![]() ![]() The finished head, complete with white sequin eye glimmers and long, girly lashes, weighs about as much as a football. “You have to use as many lightweight materials as possible just because they can get heavy quickly.” “She has to be cute at all angles,” Wedig said. The sketching was easier than translating Fiona’s personality into a three-dimensional sculpture that would need to fit comfortably onto a dancer’s head, she said. Building the other heads didn’t have the same effect because they weren’t iconic characters in real life.” I really wanted to capture that,” said Wedig, who also worked on the production’s Mouse King and "Nutcracker" character heads. “I felt a lot of pressure because Fiona’s so iconic and loved, and she has so much personality. She studied photos of Fiona’s face provided by the zoo’s marketing department and drew multiple sketches to try to capture the hippo superstar’s sass. Wedig, a Fiona fan from the start, created the head. ![]() The ballet and zoo hatched the idea to make Fiona part of the "Nutcracker’s" 45th season.įiona’s head is the part of the costume designed to look most like her, rather than any random dancing hippo. ![]() “They’re fun challenges when you can do something like this,” she said. Emily Maxwell | WCPOĪdams said Fiona is among the most challenging costumes she has helped make in her 47 years with the ballet. The ballet decided Fiona, who will turn 2 in January, was old enough to audition this year.įrom left to right, Diana Adams, Jackie Andrews and Noelle Wedig. The ballet’s production gives young dancers a chance to star in the "Nutcracker’s" featured roles of Clara and her brother, Fritz, along with dozens of other parts. WATCH: Go behind-the-scenes with the team behind the Fiona costume in the video above. Her story of survival captured hearts around the world and made her the unofficial princess of the Queen City. It took them roughly 100 hours over four weeks to design and build the Fiona suit, which stands more than 6 feet tall and wears a handmade pink tutu with a 61-inch waist.įiona, of course, is the baby hippo born six weeks premature at the Cincinnati Zoo & Botanical Garden. Wardrobe Mistress Diana Adams, second assistant to the wardrobe mistress Noelle Wedig and stitcher Jackie Andrews created a custom-made Fiona costume so everyone’s favorite baby hippo could be part of the Cincinnati Ballet’s production of "The Nutcracker" presented by Frisch’s Big Boy. CINCINNATI - Call them the Team Fiona Tutu Squad. ![]()
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |